Trinity Brewing planning second brewery in Denver

Colorado Springs-based Trinity Brewing[1], which has won awards and admiration for its artisanal ales and deep roster of saisons, is laying plans for a second location in Denver that also would serve as a hub for out-of-state distribution.

Founder and head brewer Jason Yester confirmed Trinity is targeting 2016 for its ambitious Denver project, which he said would likely involve a 30-barrel brewing system in a roughly 8,000 square-foot space in a warehouse district.

As if that is not enough to get Denver beer geeks salivating, note that Trinity operates under a brewpub license. Yester’s beers pair extremely well with food – they feature at craft beer-friendly restaurants such as The Kitchen in Denver[2] – and Yester said he’s already spoken with chefs interested in forging a partnership in the Mile High City.

Most new brewery start-ups in Denver have adopted the kitchen-free tap room model, and a brewpub of Trinity’s caliber would be welcome addition to the scene. In Colorado Springs, Trinity serves up slow food with an organic, local focus.

“We almost doubled our volume last year by opening up sales in Denver, and most of our sales out of town were in Denver specifically,” Yester said. “We went from 790 to 1,390 (barrels). It just feels like Denver is a really good fit.”

Yester said Trinity’s brewpub in Colorado Springs, which runs on a 12-barrel system, would continue to operate. If all goes as planned, Trinity will join a growing number of Colorado craft breweries branching out to additional locations, including Dry Dock Brewing[3], Caution Brewing[4], Renegade Brewing[5] and Denver Beer Co[6]., with more on the way.

The plan is to use the Denver Trinity location for distribution of bottles in seven or eight cities out of state initially, Yester said. But Trinity is not waiting until then to begin distributing to its first out-of-state market. Yester, whose family lives in Oregon, said the brewery is scheduled to begin shipping its first bottles to Portland starting in mid-April.

Yester said Trinity just went to print with labels for six different varieties of beer in 375-milliliter bottles, which are thought to be more appealing to solo drinkers and those hesitant to spend more on an unknown beer in 750-milliliter bottles. He said the Colorado Springs brewery will continue to crank out 750-milliliter bottles, as well. He said it hasn’t been decided what sizes will be packaged and distributed out of Denver, but it most likely will be the smaller ones.

Yester said he plans to move to Denver in two years and then nail down a location for the brewery, which would then take six to eight months to open. He said the River North neighborhood – bursting with new breweries – is one potential landing spot.